Josie had gotten up early. She loved to get up early it meant she had a big day ahead of her, and a big day meant big deals, and big deal meant opportunity. She left the Lunar Meadows Apartments, where she lived before the streets had woken up. The quiet of the wee hours of the morning were refreshing. Neo Miami was an ever growing city and a loud one at that. She breathed in the moon air. It was different than earth air. Something about the balance from the Terraforming process. It had the faintest after taste like point zero five percent diet coke aftertaste. It gave the city another layer of texture that she had not found anywhere she lived back on earth. Her taxi picked her up two minutes early. They stopped at the Neo Dolphin Mall to get some coffee and than went on with there long drive to the outskirts of the moon’s civilization. The locals called it the edge but Josie found that a tad melodramatic. She checked in with her AI earpiece Lucy, going over her expectations for the day. She was finally going to get a good look at this terraforming process. She found being in the thick of it now and again really made the most of her talking points when approaching investors. After this trip she was going to be able to concoct the perfect way to get real estate developers interested in the moon and neo miami as an even bigger and more well to do destination that it already was. When she was done this place would be a bigger deal than New York, or Paris. Everyone who was anyone would be clambering to get a spot in Neo Miami and she’d be responsible. The buildings were slowly get farther and farther apart, and the craggy earth was beginning to become the dominant feature in the landscape. The quiet stayed though. The city was probably more than alive by now but Josie and her driver were out far enough that there was no way to tell. She was starting to see the lights of Mechs coming on and getting to work. But the real star of the terraforming process was the nanites in the soil. The cabbie and her had not bothered with niceties, having not even bothered to really say anything at all. He dropped her off near the development center, a mobile unit that the foreman for the terraformers stationed himself a hundred meters or so from the end of what had been terraformed. She spoke with him and a couple other of the workers really getting to the heart of what they loved and hated about the job. Josie was looking for anything she could sell. She did a deep dive into several of their lives, and than and extensive conversation about the tech and how it worked. Josie believed that anything could be a selling point and she was not going to stop digging through the intricacies of this process until she had found her golden nugget of opportunity. It was more than mid way through the day before she finally got the chance to go onto her tour. She got the chance to jump into a couple of the Terra Suits, which were the mechs used for the terraforming process. One old and one new. The old ones had to maneuvered by hand but the new ones could be controlled remotely. Most of the pilots she had learned scoffed at the idea of sitting in some cushy office and working there machines. They claimed there was a finesse to being in the big clunky machines that could not be replicated remotely. They talked about the Mechs like they were not only people but family. Than, they gave her a breathing mask, and started walking her to the ends of human life on the moon. The point where everything starts to be unlivable. This was where the moon started to transform back into what the moon used to be just a big rock. There were hints of the nanites taking root all around with grass or other smile plants started to take root but it was more barren than even an Earth dessert. She was getting up close and personal with some of that grass trying to get a real understanding of what the nanites might be up to. And that, was when she saw him. She saw his neon clothes first. Way out past were the recommended safe space was, was a man. She squinted as she stood up. She could swear she knew him. It was an old man. It was Nicolas the confused old man she kept running into outside of the grocery store. What was he doing all of the way out there. Suddenly she couldn’t help herself as she started movie to him. He was just a sad old man and he was probably lost. She kept moving faster now her legs having a life of their own. Her mask falling off as she took off in a run. There was no smell in the air and breathing was laborious. Hard heavy, light on air how could it be heavy. She kept moving. Normally Josie wouldn’t stick her neck out like this but she knew him. Her peripheral vision went dark. All she could see was what was directly in front of her. Everything was bubbling, shifting, She knew what she was seeing was not what she was seeing, but it was what she was seeing. She could sense a presence, something big something old, something powerful. He was in danger. Her senses were dull but, also heightened. But they weren’t she was just telling herself that, maybe. She was getting closer and closer, but never close enough. She bubbled, everything bubbled. Her eyes were bright her mind was wide the world was dull. Her eyes were dull, mind narrow, world bright. Than there in front of her was a giant huling mass. A mountain, a moving mountain. Looming over her and Nicolas was gone and the workers, that had called out to try and stop her, had faded away long ago. There in front of her was a living golem an ancient god who was strong. But it was also sad, sad like Nicolas, sad and confused, old; sad; and confused.
Her taxi picked her up two minutes early. They stopped at the Neo Dolphin Mall to get some coffee and than went on with there long drive to the outskirts of the moon’s civilization. The locals called it the edge but Josie found that a tad melodramatic. She checked in with her AI earpiece Lucy, going over her expectations for the day. She was finally going to get a good look at this terraforming process. She found being in the thick of it now and again really made the most of her talking points when approaching investors. After this trip she was going to be able to concoct the perfect way to get real estate developers interested in the moon and neo miami as an even bigger and more well to do destination that it already was. When she was done this place would be a bigger deal than New York, or Paris. Everyone who was anyone would be clambering to get a spot in Neo Miami and she’d be responsible.
The buildings were slowly get farther and farther apart, and the craggy earth was beginning to become the dominant feature in the landscape. The quiet stayed though. The city was probably more than alive by now but Josie and her driver were out far enough that there was no way to tell. She was starting to see the lights of Mechs coming on and getting to work. But the real star of the terraforming process was the nanites in the soil.
The cabbie and her had not bothered with niceties, having not even bothered to really say anything at all. He dropped her off near the development center, a mobile unit that the foreman for the terraformers stationed himself a hundred meters or so from the end of what had been terraformed. She spoke with him and a couple other of the workers really getting to the heart of what they loved and hated about the job. Josie was looking for anything she could sell. She did a deep dive into several of their lives, and than and extensive conversation about the tech and how it worked. Josie believed that anything could be a selling point and she was not going to stop digging through the intricacies of this process until she had found her golden nugget of opportunity.
It was more than mid way through the day before she finally got the chance to go onto her tour. She got the chance to jump into a couple of the Terra Suits, which were the mechs used for the terraforming process. One old and one new. The old ones had to maneuvered by hand but the new ones could be controlled remotely. Most of the pilots she had learned scoffed at the idea of sitting in some cushy office and working there machines. They claimed there was a finesse to being in the big clunky machines that could not be replicated remotely. They talked about the Mechs like they were not only people but family.
Than, they gave her a breathing mask, and started walking her to the ends of human life on the moon. The point where everything starts to be unlivable. This was where the moon started to transform back into what the moon used to be just a big rock. There were hints of the nanites taking root all around with grass or other smile plants started to take root but it was more barren than even an Earth dessert.
She was getting up close and personal with some of that grass trying to get a real understanding of what the nanites might be up to. And that, was when she saw him. She saw his neon clothes first. Way out past were the recommended safe space was, was a man. She squinted as she stood up. She could swear she knew him. It was an old man. It was Nicolas the confused old man she kept running into outside of the grocery store. What was he doing all of the way out there.
Suddenly she couldn’t help herself as she started movie to him. He was just a sad old man and he was probably lost. She kept moving faster now her legs having a life of their own. Her mask falling off as she took off in a run.
There was no smell in the air and breathing was laborious. Hard heavy, light on air how could it be heavy. She kept moving. Normally Josie wouldn’t stick her neck out like this but she knew him.
Her peripheral vision went dark. All she could see was what was directly in front of her. Everything was bubbling, shifting, She knew what she was seeing was not what she was seeing, but it was what she was seeing.
She could sense a presence, something big something old, something powerful.
He was in danger. Her senses were dull but, also heightened. But they weren’t she was just telling herself that, maybe. She was getting closer and closer, but never close enough. She bubbled, everything bubbled. Her eyes were bright her mind was wide the world was dull. Her eyes were dull, mind narrow, world bright.
Than there in front of her was a giant huling mass. A mountain, a moving mountain. Looming over her and Nicolas was gone and the workers, that had called out to try and stop her, had faded away long ago. There in front of her was a living golem an ancient god who was strong. But it was also sad, sad like Nicolas, sad and confused, old; sad; and confused.